Wild Blueberry

When I came back from holidays, I was lucky enough to still be able to have another two weeks off - I also haven't soaped for at least 6 weeks so the soaping urge was beginning to shout at me!

Just before I went on holidays, I ordered some new fragrance oils that I just wanted to try out.  One of these was Blueberry - I had tried this in a sample previously and used it in a sugar scrub and just loved it, it smells just like the best blueberry muffin ever.  So I had to use this first, I was just dying to ... my mouth watered just smelling it. 

So I lined up all my ingredients, all perfectly weighed out and mixed carefully.  Then prepped my colours - I used Blueberry POP mica (yeah, blueberry, what else could I have used really?! It was just asking for it!).  I mixed some with oil in one jug, a little less in another with a tinch of TD to give a paler blue, in a third jug I mixed more of the Blueberry and then added some Grape POP mica to make a really deep bluey/purpley sort of colour.  In my final jug, I mixed TD to give a really white soap.  So all was good.. the oils were ready, the lye with dissolved silk was ready, the colours were ready, the mould was lined and all my worktops cleared to give me space for my favourite spoon swirl. 

I mixed my fragrance oil into the oils before adding the lye water, as always and gave it a little stick blend to make sure it was fully mixed.  Then I added my lye and mixed everything together - I wanted to make a spoon swirl which is my favourite technique and you have to have the soap at a very light trace so I needed to make sure I didn't stick blend too much.  Then it happened .. the FO turned my soap batter into a VERY yellow colour; like neon yellow, I kid you not!!! Ok, not good when I'm using blues as my colours!

So what to do but to go ahead and make my soap... so I mixed the now amazingly yellow coloured batter into my blues and everything went a pretty green! Yep, my green blueberry soap! The colours were fab though so I just went for it ... I did my spoon swirl and it took about 30 minutes.  Fortunately I got the soap at the right trace level so I had the time to work with it.  Everything was in the mould and I decided to swirl not just the top of the soap, as I normally do, but the body too.  I put my wooden chopstick into the soap and swirled the whole depth of the soap, banged the mould on the worktop a few times to release any bubbles and then sprinkled the glitter on top and popped everything into the fridge. 

I made this on Monday and it stayed in the fridge til Tuesday morning, then I took it out of the fridge, brought it to room temperature and then took it out of the mould and allowed it to sit, uncut, til this afternoon.  And so, here you go, pictures of my Wild Blueberry soap ... it certainly was a wild ride!

I really like it and, actually, it has stayed pretty blue for me which I'm happy about.  Not sure the swirl on the body of the soap has worked that well though - what do you think? Also I've decided not to use glitter for a while... I've noticed that the tops of the soaps become a different colour from the body and I'm convinced that it's glitter related.  It's a pity but I think I'll lay off it for a while and see if it's makes a difference. 

Hope you like this - if you're interested in having one in your own bathroom, it'll be cured by the end of August. 

Mintilla

Just showing you photos of my new, experimental, cold process soap - I say experimental because I'm trying out different recipes, fragrance combinations etc to see what one I like the best. 

Mintilla is a fantastic blend of Peppermint & Spearmint essential oils softened with a tinch of Vanilla - this helps sweeten the mints beautitfully.  I found this fragrance purely by tidying up - I had a peppermint foot scrub and vanilla body butter, just bits of each so I threw them all together and boy, it was fabulous! I've been meaning to make something that smells just like this for an age.

This soap has Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter and Sweet Almond Oil and, for extra luxury and cos I just love the idea of it, added pure silk (yep, real honest to God silk ... luxury I tells ya!).  It's coloured with a tinch of Apple Green POP mica (specially imported from the States - and I've put more on order) which I mixed with a little of the raw soap to give it that minty green, soft pastel colour. 

I decided to swirl in lines this time .. the plan is that, when I come to cut it, each slice will have its very own swirls.

I'll post up pics when this is cut - it'll be tomorrow or Monday at least - currently sitting in it's mould in the fridge!

Thanks for looking - please feel free to leave me a comment if you like it!

Colour Bomb!!!

With the delivery of my fab new POP micas (from TKB Trading), I have been wondering how I could incorporate all the colours together in one soap... and I did it this weekend! I haven't tackled stripes in the past and this was fun to do, if not a little scary!!!

Colour Bomb is another luxury handcrafted pure glycerine soap which is perfect for all skin types, especially those suffering from dry skin conditions.

To the naturally moisturising soap, I have added pure Coconut Oil, which has been called the healthiest oil on earth - it has incredible abilities to moisturise your skin and is particularly good with dry or mature ...skin. Along with that, I've added a skin hydrating Ecocert additive that increases the level of moisturisation in your skin.

Colour Bomb is fragranced with a soft aldehydic scent with citrus top notes, a floral heart with base notes of musk—a really soft & clean perfume.

I used six different natural micas to create our Colour Bomb; from the top - Lemon Drop Yellow, Tangerine Orange, Apple Green, Raspberry Pink, Blueberry & Grape! These micas glisten brightly in this softly perfumed soap which will gently scent your skin throughout the day.

I really love this soap and I'm hoping that you do too!!! If you're interested in purchasing, don't forget to check out our Soaperstar Online Store today.